Barnet v
Wrexham

Saturday 29 March 2008

 

Kick Off @ 15:00



Ground Guide

Underhill


Sat Nav Users: EN5 2DN


Admission Prices:

East Terrace -

Adults £15, Concessions £11


Official Guide

Football Ground Guide


Weather Forecast:

Light rain showers with temperatures reaching a maximum of 9 degrees Celsius.

Barnet Web Sites

Official Web Site

Bees Bees Bees

Supporters Association

Fan Club of Norway

Keep Barnet Alive

Black and Amber

Recent Encounters

Oct 07: Wrexham 0 Barnet 2

Mar 07: Barnet 1 Wrexham 2

Aug 06: Wrexham 1 Barnet 1

Mar 06: Barnet 2 Wrexham 2

Aug 05: Wrexham 3 Barnet 1

Last Five League Games

Wrexham:

Dag & Red (h) 0-0

Brentford (a) 0-2

Bury (h) 2-1

Wycombe (a) 1-2

Chester (a) 1-0

Overall Form Position: 16th

Away Form Position: 17th

Barnet:

Macclesfield (a) 0-3

Lincoln (h) 5-2

Chester (h) 3-1

Grimsby (a) 1-4

Notts County (a) 0-0

Overall Form Position: 15th

Home Form Position: 9th

League Record

  Us Them
Played 37 37
Won 8 12
Drawn 9 9
Lost 20 16
For 27 43
Against 50 53
GD -23 -10
Points 33 45
Position 24 16

Betting Odds

Wrexham Draw Barnet
23/10 12/5 1/1

League Two Fixtures

Barnet v Wrexham
Brentford v Rochdale
Chester v Stockport
Dag & Red v Chesterfield
Darlington v Bradford
Macclesfield v Accrington
Morecambe v Rotherham
Notts County v Mansfield
Peterborough v Lincoln City
Shrewsbury v Bury

Match Preview

With just one point to show over Easter, Wrexham know that three points is a must at Barnet if we are to claw back the seven point gap to safety.

Both of our games over Easter had contrasting performances with Wrexham deservedly getting no return from our trip to Brentford last weekend but we should have taken all three points against Dagenham on Monday, which makes our third successive game against a London side a make or break one in our battle to retain our Football League status.

Barnet did not help our cause last Monday when they fell to a 3-0 defeat to our relegation rivals Macclesfield who have opened a seven point gap on us and Mansfield along with Notts County.

The result left Barnet on forty-five points with eight games to go and the Bees have now probably accumulated just enough points for survival as they lie in the relative safety of sixteenth place.

The defeat to the Silkmen ended a run of two straight wins at home to Chester 3-1 and a 5-2 thrashing over Lincoln last Saturday.

The Bees started the season on the fringe of the play offs but a combination of eight games without a win and five straight defeats later on in the season left Barnet plummeting into the relegation battle, but their recent two home victories have now stabilised matters.

Mark Birchall has regained the title of leading scorer for Barnet after his brace against Lincoln took his tally to eleven for the season in all competitions.

These goals have taken him ahead of Jason Puncheon, who is one behind Birchall on ten, but the winger is without a goal since he scored a hat trick against Dagenham at the end of December.

Manager Paul Fairclough celebrates four years in charge of the Bees tomorrow and, during his time in charge at Underhill, has seen Barnet crowned Conference Champions in 2005 and looks set to retain their league status for the second successive season.

Recent Encounters:

Barnet ran out comfortable 2-0 winners at the Racecourse earlier on in the season with Liam Hatch scoring a second half brace to claim all three points.

This was Barnet's first win over us since 1993 but this was only the seventh game between the two sides since then.

Last season, Lee McEvilly scored a brace in the corresponding fixture as we came from behind to record a crucial three points and Mark Jones scored in the 1-1 draw at the Racecourse.

The overall head-to-head in the league sees us edge Barnet with five wins to their four and there have been two draws in the eleven games between the two sides.

Team News:

Wrexham again have injury problems in midfield with Neil Roberts and Danny Sonner both ruled out, with Carl Tremarco and Neil Taylor again doubtful with ankle and leg injuries respectively

Roberts has been struck down by a virus and Sonner is again troubled with his Achilles and this means Jeff Whitley is a certain starter in midfield.

Mike Williams has returned with no problems from midweek duties with Wales Under 21s but Steve Evans and Rob Duffy are not match fit after returning to training on Thursday.

Barnet captain Ismail Yakubu faces a late fitness test on his hip injury but striker Cliff Akurang and goalkeeper Rob Beckwith are out with hamstring injuries.

Good news for the Bees is that Jason Puncheon may make a comeback.

Elsewhere in League Two:

The six pointer at the foot of the table sees Mansfield travel to Notts County and the Stags are in a similar position to us by trailing Notts County and Macclesfield by seven points.

Billy Dearden parted company with the Stags earlier on this month and his assistant, Paul Holland, was initially offered a caretaker role which was made permanent on Tuesday.

Macclesfield are the other team seven points ahead of us in the table and they will fancy their chances of making it three wins out of their last four games when they entertain Accrington Stanley at Moss Rose.